Going With McCain:
My co-blogger Jonathan Adler noted yesterday that none of the VC bloggers who had endorsed Fred Thompson had picked a new candidate to support. To the extent anyone is interested, I've decided to support John McCain. I was a McCain supporter before Thompson first expressed interest in running, so this is more of a return to support than something new. Mitt Romney has assembled a stellar team of legal advisors, and that certainly gave me pause. But I think John McCain is the better candidate.

Like Orin, I'm supporting McCain for the Republican nomination. I disagree with him strongly about campaign finance reform and a few other issues. But he's taken the right stands, roughly speaking, on many other important matters, like national security, Iraq, torture, immigration, and fiscal responsibility. On federalism grounds, he's also opposed (and twice voted against) the Federal Marriage Amendment, a costly stand for a Republican presidential contender. I also think he's the one candidate in both parties who has sufficient credibility on security and military issues to end or modify Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and I detected somewhat lukewarm and perfunctory support for it in his answers on the question during the debates. Nobody's perfect, but his heart and mind seem closest to my own on most of the issues that matter most to me in this election.

It's been hard for me to choose, but I've decided to vote for John McCain in tomorrow's California primary.

I'd vote for either of the Republican candidates in November, and I have some reservations about both. Still, I think that McCain is likely to be very good on defense and on spending, and I think he's eminently electable (not the only criterion, but a very important one). I'm also moved by the views of many lawyers and scholars I know and respect as serious conservatives — such as Ted Olson, Miguel Estrada, John McGinnis, and Stephen Calabresi — whose support suggests that McCain will do a very good job on judicial appointments. I'm also glad to be in the good company of my cobloggers Orin and Dale.

This having been said, I disagree with McCain about restrictions on campaign-related speech, and I'm uncomfortable with his occasional streak of economic populism. But the fact is that no Republican candidate is likely to be a perfect match for my views; and I think that on balance he's the one I'd prefer as my party's candidate this November. So that's one reporter's opinion. We'll see what others think tomorrow, and during the rest of the campaign.